People used chicken feathers as quill pens, and tribal folks used them to make fletching for arrows.
Feathers had more uses before the industrial age, but they remain relevant still today, though their uses have changed.
If you own chicken flocks, don’t throw their feathers away without using them. Here are some great uses and benefits of chicken feathers.
1. Composting Chicken Feathers
Do you know feathers are rich in nitrogen?
It’s like chicken poop for composting, which can boost your garden soil. It breaks down slowly and acts as long-term fertilizer.
So, you can chop or shred feathers to help decompose faster. When you finish processing your chickens, dry the wet feathers and grind them.
To use it, you can bury feathers directly in garden beds. Add feathers to planting holes for heavy feeders such as tomatoes and corn.
Or add the shredded feathers to compost piles to balance carbon-heavy materials. Mix them with browns like straw or leaves.
It’s easy to compost with the chicken waste when you clean the chicken coop.
2. Craft Projects and Home Decor
I love DIYs with feathers, especially chicken feathers. Cutting, weaving, gluing, coloring or painting, and much more!
In fact, you can buy most colored feathers at the arts and crafts stores, which are dyed chicken feathers.
These feathers have several crafty uses.
- Home Decor: Dreamcatchers, rustic wreaths, feather lampshade, feather vase,
- Gifts: Feather Thanksgiving name cards, homemade shuttlecocks, quill pens, play/decorative arrows,
- Jewelry and ornaments: hair accessories (headbands, bows, and wedding hair clips), necklace, earrings, bracelet, to create a bohemian style
I’m sure you can find several feather craft ideas on Pinterest.
After collecting, you can sort feathers by color and size. It is great for selling at local markets or gifting.
People have a whole section on Etsy for selling beautiful feathers and feather crafts. Want to try it?
So, chicken feathers, which are free on your homestead or farm, give you new income opportunities.
3. Chicken Feather Mulch for Garden Beds
It’s not a very popular idea, but you can try it if you don’t want to dispose of feathers for a while.
This only makes sense when you have a large flock of chickens and need to process them often.
Anyway, you can use feathers as a mulch layer on the garden bed. This helps retain moisture and prevent soil from drying out.
Besides, layers of feathers suppress grass and weeds around the plant, allowing crops to grow more easily without competing for fertilizer and water.
But the problem is that feathers are too light to be blown away by even light wind.
So, I suggest you mix feathers with other mulch materials such as grass straw, wood chips, bark, leaves, and compost.
4. Pet Bedding and Nesting Material
Chicken feathers are soft, insulating, and natural, which makes them perfect bedding for small animals and nesting material for poultry on a homestead or farm.
So, instead of using straws and wood shavings, lay out the feathers in the chicken nest boxes. This helps keep eggs secure without breaking on the hard surface.
Also, hens find more comfort and warmth when they go broody. They sit on their eggs, warming them for a whole day and night.
If they lack heat beneath, they also pluck their feathers to warm the eggs.
Don’t forget to make a small mat of feathers for your pets, including dogs or cats. But only use clean, dry feathers; avoid those that are contaminated.
Even chickens consume fluffy feathers. When I saw my cockerels swallowing the fallen feathers, I was surprised and worried that this might upset their stomachs.
But nothing happened as such.
Later, I found that feathers contain keratin, so birds consume them when they are hungry.
5. Natural Fire Starters
It’s no news that feathers are highly flammable when dry. If you don’t have a scalding pot to process chickens, you can remove the chicken feathers by placing the chicken in the fire.
The feathers burn off quickly, making the chicken look and taste more rustic.
Anyway, if you want to make chicken feathers natural fire starters, dry the feathers and combine them with wax or paper so that the flame lasts longer.
For example, you can pour melted wax into the egg carton cups, place the feathers in the middle, and let it fix for a while.
This can be great for wood stoves and campfires.
Make sure you store your homemade feather fire starters in a dry place for later use and keep them away from flammable objects.
6. Fishing Lures and Fly Tying
Do you know that feathers are widely used in handmade fishing flies?
They look natural and attractive, so the fish often goes around the hook. Use Hackle feathers for fly tying.
There is high demand for rooster capes among fishermen and fishing enthusiasts. They can easily lure fish, especially trout.
So, you can sell handmade fishing gear without investing anything separately. And this becomes another free source of income for chicken keepers.
7. Stuffing for Pillows and Cushions
Wait, what?
Yes, you can use feathers as stuffing for your homemade pillows and cushions.
They are soft, breathable, biodegradable, and suitable for small pillows and seat cushions.
Long and hard feathers can pierce the skin, so use small, fluffy feathers. I like Cochins, with their soft, loose, and fluffy feathers, and silkie bantams, with their hair-like feathers.
So, you may need down feathers or plumules, contour feathers, leg feathers, beard, and muff feathers for better comfort.
Also, use large feathers for comforters and duvets.
But before you put feathers into the pillow and cushions, make sure you wash them with detergent and dry them completely.
8. Fashion Accessories from Feathers
Feathers can be used as a biodegradable plastic and help update leather coats, clothes, and belts with a furry look.
How about turning simple shoes into stilettos?
Besides, rooster feathers are used to make hair feather extensions. Ladies are fond of having eyelashes made of feathers, which are short, thin, and straight.
Don’t forget the eye mask for the Halloween party.
Feathers are used as a staple in hats (straw or felt) and in fancy costumes. Stick a long feather in the hat and coat pocket.
Theater artists still use these dresses for their realistic performances.
9. Memorizing Pets with Feathers
You can personalize your daily-use items, such as a keychain, a purse, or anything you carry often.
Not to mention charm-type items.
Bookmarking with beautiful feathers in your favorite books. Or, you can keep some feathers in the photo album or photo frame to display in the drawing room.
People make hand fans out of feathers and bamboo.
Your kids would love turning the feathers into calligraphy pens.
Final Thoughts
Backyard chickens have much more to offer, from eggs and meat to feathers and waste.
They have beautiful feathers with several uses in art and craft, and in everyday life. So, you can collect feathers off the ground in the summer when birds molt, or get the bulk of these when processing the birds.
Before you use them, wash, clean, and dry feathers.
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